We are actively supporting the people, places and communities we serve. Our Customer and Communities Investment and Station Community funds support activities which address social needs local to our route.  

• Feel Good Field Trips, which is run in partnership Community Rail Lancashire, was launched in April 2022 and is designed to give up to 5,000 pupils aged between 4 and 18 the chance to travel by train for hands on learning and culturally diverse days out that may have previously been inaccessible for them. So far over 100 planned excursions have taken place – from trips to Gladstone Pottery Museum in Stoke-on-Trent, to outdoor adventuring in the Lake District, and art workshops at The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry. 
• We have also partnered with the Central Cheshire Buddies Scheme - a charity that supports children and young people with disabilities, as well as sibling young carers – to give disabled children and young carers the opportunity to experience the railway. Designed to give young people experiences they would not normally have access to, Train Buddies will see three of the charity’s activity groups make 24 rail journeys for days out on the West Coast Main Line by the end of March 2025. 
• We welcomed five-year-old Daniel Rogerson, a Pendolino superfan from Standish, Wigan, on a day out for a unique insight into the railway. When Daniel isn’t playing with his cherished railway track, he enjoys train spotting – a pastime that started when he could watch Pendolinos go by from the window of his previous family home, which backed onto the West Coast Main Line. He now spends hours with his grandad seeing the trains pass through his local station.